Description: This circular vignette depicts Gefjon plowing with
her four giant sons whom she has turned into oxen. This scene
takes place in Chapter 5 of Ynglingesoga, the first saga in Kongesagaer, in
Gustav
Storm's Norwegian translation
of Snorri
Sturluson's Heimskringla. The illustration is based on Snorri's
use of lines from the late 9th-century skaldic poem Ynglingatal, which Samuel
Laing rendered in his 1844
English translation of Heimskringla as:
Medium: pen and ink drawing printed by means of
zincography
Date: 1899
Dimensions (mm): 45 x 36
Provenance:
This copy of Kongesagaer contains the signature of
Halldor C.
Espe and the date 1900 on the second page along with the note
"Ac 134" in the upper left hand corner. This is not a deluxe
edition,it has a plain black cover with gilt lettering on the spine
and a red and black title page but does not have any decorative page
borders. Page #21 is misnumbered as #22. The pages of this copy
appear to be of a more durable quality paper than those of the copy
in the Urbana-Champaign Library (Q. 839.6 SN5HDAS1899) which are now
very fragile.
P.A. Baer purchased this copy of Kongesagaer in
Oslo in 2008.
Rights:
Illustrations from the 1899 edition of Kongesagaer are in the Public Domain.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources
Sturluson,
Snorri.
Kongesagaer.
Translated by
Gustav
Storm,
Kristiania: J. M.
Stenersen, 1899.
Secondary Sources
Cleasby, Richard
and
Vigfússon
Guðbrandur
. An Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1957.
Sturluson,
Snorri. The
Heimskringla: Or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway.
Translated by
Samuel
Laing,
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and
Longmans, 1844.
―. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway.
Translated by
Lee M.
Hollander,
Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1964.
Gefjon (non.)
A goddess in Snorri's Edda but a part of the
group of people who travel with Óðinn from Asia to the northern lands in
Heimskringla. She plays the
same role in both sources in tricking King Gylfi of Sweden into giving
her a plough share of land which she and her four giant sons, whom she
has changed into oxen, drag away to the coast of Denmark.
Source Materials:
Heimskringla (is.)
History of the Kings of Norway (en.)
This account of the history of the kings of Norway and is generally
believed to have been written by Snorri Sturluson in Iceland in 1230. It
begins with the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings, who were the
subject matter of the skaldic poem Ynglingtal, and ends with the reign
of the Norwegian king, Magnus Erlingson (died 1184).
Kongesagaer (1899 ed.) (no.)
The first edition of Gustaf Storm's Norwegian translation of Heimskringla. Of the two hundred and
twenty illustrations for the 1899 edition Werenskiold drew fifty-seven,
Krohg forty- seven, Wetlesen forty-three, Egedius thirty-seven, Munthe
twenty-seven, and Peterssen eight.
Ynglinga saga (is.)
Ynglingesoga (no.)
Saga of the Ynglings (en.)
The first saga in Heimskringla.
It was based on the ninth-century skaldic poem Ynglingatal and concerns
the legendary Swedish dynasty of the Ynglings.
Ynglingatal (non.)
A skaldic poem that was composed in the ninth century by the
Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr af Hvini and is best known from Snorri
Sturluson's use of it in Ynglinga Saga, the
first saga in Heimskringla.
Source Persons
Laing,
Samuel (en.)
b. 1780
d. 1868
Occupation: writer and translator
Laing translated Heimskringla into English in
1844.
Munthe,
Gerhard (no.)
b. 1849
d. 1929
Nationality: Norwegian
Occupation: illustrator
Residence: Oslo
Munthe was one of the main illustrator's for Gustav Storm's editions
of Kongesagaer in 1899 and 1900.
Snorri
Sturluson (is.)
b. 1179
d. 1241
Nationality: Icelandic
Snorri was an Icelandic statesman, scholar, and author who is credited
with writing Heimskringla, The
Prose Edda, and possibly Egil's
Saga.
